The Lady J: Two locks and on to Pittsford

Wednesday morning we hung around Spencerport for a while since the weather was just not quite sure what it wanted to do. We were going to make our way over to Pittsford, which meant crossing the Genesee River and to be honest with all this rain we were not sure what we would find once we got there. But after an hour of waiting we finally decided to go for it and pushed off about 9:30 a.m. This cruising day would be our longest so far of only 3 hours. Seems crazy but our average days in the past two weeks has only been about an hour and a half. We knew we had two locks to get through that day which might be a little bit of a challenge seeing that the wind had picked up. But throwing caution to the wind (no pun intended, well maybe just a little) off we went.

Below are some sites along our way.

This Yacht Club could use a little renovation

Beautiful murals

The Captain maneuvering under some bridges

Parts of the canal are deteriorating

We went under so many bridges specially near Rochester.

The Genesee is up ahead

The Genesee River, doesn't look like much but the current makes it a bit tricky getting across.

A little traffic on the river

I love this series of three bridges

It was weird cruising next to the freeway.

And yes there is even construction on the canal

Actually the construction was overheard

Some more traffic on the canal

We got past the Genesee River without a problem we where then on to the two locks that we would need to get through before we reached the town of Pittsford. But then the rain came, ugh. We really thought that it was over but nooo. So we quickly threw on our rain gear, zipped up the sides of the fly bridge and I took down as much of our "stuff" below so that it wouldn't get drenched. Mike did an awesome job maneuvering the boat through the downpour that surrounded us. The worst problem was the bimini canvas was leaking. We hadn't had the time to prep the canvas this time and well look for yourself, it didn't do well at keeping us dry. Lesson learned, must look for waterproofing spray.

Captain getting us through the rain

One leaky bimini

Mike slowed the boat down to a crawl seeing that we didn't want to get to the locks while it was still raining. Standing in the pouring rain, trying to hold your boat to a canal wall just didn't seem like a fun thing to do. But after about 5 minutes of doing this he received a radio call from the lock master asking us if we were coming through if we could speed it up a bit. He had a boat waiting in the lock and wanted to get both of us through at once. Okay so as not to keep anyone waiting Mike kicks it into full gear (a whole 7 knots) and gets us into the lock. This was a down passage lock so coming in at the top sometimes is a little tricky. First you have the wind which is currently pushing us away from the lock wall, we have a tall boat that catches all the wind and then the lock walls have stationary lines that when you standing a good three feet above them are nearly impossible to catch with your boat hook. I was able to grab the top of the line which had a ring on it, but unfortunately I don't have the best upper body strength to keep us against the wall completely. By this time the lock master was there and told me to throw him a line and by that time too Mike was on his way down from the bridge. After a bit of a struggle we were able to get Lady J snug against the lock wall and we were on our way down. Oh did I tell you the boat that was already in the lock waiting for us was a sheriffs boat. Coming out of the lock was a bit tricky too, with all the rain and storms that had gone through earlier the debris was everywhere. Our motto is "slow like a pro" in doing so we were able to get out of the lock without any problem.

The Captain holding one rope, while I hold another

The Sheriffs boat making its way through the debris

We made it to through the second lock and then Pittsford was just around the bend. Pittsford is a pretty little port. They have hook ups for water and electric, but no showers and restroom per say. Although you are allowed to use the restrooms in the library (up the hill) during operating hours. We were not docked long when some folks we had met at Spencerport pulled in behind us. Ron, Cindy & Cookie where going to be spending a couple of days here in Pittsford also. After helping them dock the 4 of us went for a walk around town.

Docked at Pittsford

Their thing must be horses around town

Beautiful churches

And houses

This area was especially beautiful. Someday I will tell the story of the two chipmunks that ran across our path.
Let's just say they gave us a good laugh.

Our for a long walk after sitting on the boat for 3 hours.

The town of Pittsford was very quaint and clean.

We took a good hour or more just walking around town, stopping if a few shops and then stopping for some well deserved gelato.

Flowers in town were beautiful

Walking over a bridge we had just cruised under about an hour before

Walking on the canal path

We stopped for gelato and watched some girls feed the pigeons

An old granary that is now office space

So many things to see and do.

Mike even found a lumber yard/shop

This sweet old girl was the greeter.

Pretty view from the other end of town.

After a good walk we all decided to go back to our boats and take a nap. Of course while we were resting it started to rain AGAIN!

We are starting to get used to these intermittent showers.

But after the rain everything just had a beautiful glow.

After the rain Mike and I grabbed a bite to eat and went again for another walk. Boy as a boater you certainly do get a lot of walking in. I guess that is a good thing because we seem to eat a lot of ice cream too. We found the Pittsford Dairy on the north side of the canal. It's a beautiful place, a bit touristy, but they had dairy products for sale along with baked goods and of course ice cream. We then returned back to the boat, brought out our chairs and did what all boaters do, hang out on the dock with the other boaters. It was a great ending to a wonderful day.